Health officials declare ‘Queen of Canada’s’ compound a threat to public safety

RICHMOUND - Provincial officials in Saskatchewan say parts of a former school that was serving as a compound for the self-proclaimed "Queen of Canada" and her followers have been declared unfit for human habitation, and the residents have been ordered out.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority says in an email that occupancy of the building in Richmound is prohibited under Section 22 of the Public Health Act, on the basis that the premises is a multi-person residence and is not connected to the municipal sewer system.

The email says an order was issued for anyone who was currently occupying the building to vacate, although it notes the order covers the building only, and not trailers on the site.

Police arrested the group's leader, Romana Didulo, property owner Ricky Manz and 14 others on Wednesday in the village west of Regina, after obtaining a search warrant to enter the site.

Deadly attack renews calls to fix cellular gaps in, around Hollow Water

A mass stabbing and head-on crash that killed two people, including a suspect, and injured eight has renewed concerns about cellular coverage gaps in and around Hollow Water First Nation.

Residents said there is no cellphone service in Hollow Water and some surrounding areas, leaving people vulnerable if they’re in a location or circumstance where there’s no other way to call 911 or an emergency service directly.

“I don’t get any service in Hollow Water. It’s difficult to communicate,” said Brook Monkman, who lives south of the First Nation near Lake Winnipeg.

Monkman said he was driving on a road about 40 kilometres north of Hollow Water in 2023 when he came upon a crash that killed a mother and young son, and left a father and young daughter seriously injured.

Hollow Water stabbing victim tries to process tragedy as community mourns

HOLLOW WATER FIRST NATION — Michael Raven barely closed his eyes Thursday night.

“I can still see it,” he said, hours after the unimaginable act shook the quiet, remote community of Hollow Water First Nation, about 185 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

Raven was one of eight people attacked during a stabbing spree that claimed the life of 18-year-old Marina Simard. Her brother, 26-year-old Tyrone Simard, was identified as the suspect. He later died after crashing head-on into an RCMP cruiser south of the community on Highway 304.

Raven, 60, had been rushed by ambulance to Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre in the early morning hours. By the afternoon, he was back in Hollow Water, sitting on a bed in a spare room at his sister-in-law’s house — right next door to his own home, which remained sealed off and guarded by a Commissionaires officer.

Family of student killed in encounter with police threatens civil lawsuit

The family of a U of M student who was shot and killed by a police officer say they’re considering further legal action after an external review cleared the officer.

Gather ’round, folks… it’s bail-reform story time again

By now, it’s a ritual as predictable as a pothole in spring: a high-profile crime occurs, public outrage builds and politicians rush to microphones to demand “bail reform.”

First Nations call on Ottawa to crack down on drug traffickers in their communities

OTTAWA - First Nations chiefs voted Friday to call on Ottawa to crack down on the people selling drugs that are claiming lives in their communities.

They're also calling for the Assembly of First Nations to declare a state of emergency spanning all First Nations, and to call for more support from the federal government for treatment and prevention.

Chief Angela Levasseur of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation said she brought the resolution forward for a vote at the Assembly of First Nations annual general meeting in Winnipeg because the opioid epidemic is killing members of her community.

"In Manitoba and across Canada, fentanyl poisonings are taking lives daily. Our front-line workers and families are doing all they can, but support from federal and provincial governments remains fragmented, underfunded and reactive," Levasseur said.

Carney announces supports for sectors affected by U.S. tariffs

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Friday a suite of new measures to support sectors of the economy hit hardest by U.S. tariffs.

The announcement includes $5 billion for a fund to help companies pivot to new products and markets and keep skills and production in Canada, and to make them more competitive globally.

At a press conference at an aerospace plant in Mississauga, Ont. Friday morning, Carney said that the fund would be open to "all sectors, given the fact that the tariff impacts are wide-ranging across Canadian industries." He said that heavily affected sectors like steel, automobile, lumber and aluminum would have priority.

Carney also announced a “Buy Canadian” policy for the federal government.

Alberta government postpones release of revised school library book ban

EDMONTON - The Alberta government has postponed the release of its revised school library book ban to Monday.

The government had promised the new ministerial order for Friday afternoon, with a technical briefing for reporters set earlier in the day.

After the briefing was supposed to start, media were informed by email that it had been rescheduled.

“We are taking the time needed to ensure that the revised ministerial order is clear for all school boards," Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides later said in an email in response to questions about the postponement.

Carney delays electric vehicle sales mandate by one year, launches review

OTTAWA - The federal electric vehicle sales mandate will not be implemented in 2026 as planned, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday, pushing back by at least a year a policy that would have set minimum sales targets for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Introduced by the Liberals under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, the mandate would have required 20 per cent of all new vehicles sold in Canada next year to be electric.

The standard as written is to rise steadily each year until 2035, by which point all new light-duty vehicles sold in Canada were to be fully electric or plug-in hybrids.

But at a press conference in Mississauga, Ont., Carney said he is suspending the mandate for 2026 and launching a 60-day review of the program to help find "future flexibilities and ways to reduce costs."

Unemployment rate climbed to 7.1 per cent in August as economy lost 66,000 jobs

OTTAWA - The Canadian economy lost jobs for the second month in a row and the unemployment rate climbed to its highest level since May 2016, excluding the pandemic period, Statistics Canada reported on Friday.

The weaker-than-expected reading of the labour market prompted financial markets to increase the odds the Bank of Canada will cut its key interest rate target later this month.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.1 per cent in August as the economy lost 66,000 jobs for the month. The monthly jobs report comes after the July labour force survey that showed a loss of 41,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 6.9 per cent.

A poll of economists heading into the release had expected August to show a gain of 10,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to rise to seven per cent for the month, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

RCMP arrest 16, including ‘Queen of Canada,’ at conspiracy compound in Saskatchewan

REGINA - RCMP say 16 people, including self-proclaimed "Queen of Canada" Romana Didulo, were arrested Wednesday in southwestern Saskatchewan.

Followers of Didulo, who has promoted various conspiracy theories, set up a "Kingdom of Canada" compound in an old school in Richmound, west of Regina, in 2023.

Insp. Ashley St. Germaine said Mounties learned last week that a person was in possession of a firearm at the property and a police operations team was organized.

A search warrant was executed and the 16 were arrested in the building, in some of the eight recreational vehicles parked at the site, and at a home in the village.

AI chatbots changing online threat landscape as Ottawa reviews legislation

OTTAWA - Wrongful death lawsuits citing the activities of artificial intelligence chatbots are underway in the United States, as reports emerge of mental health issues and delusions induced by AI systems.

These incidents are drawing attention to the changing nature of the online threat landscape — just weeks after the Liberal government said it would review its online harms bill before reintroducing it in Parliament.

"Since the legislation was introduced, I think it's become all the more clear that tremendous harm can be facilitated by AI, and we're seeing that in particular in the space of chatbots and some of the tragedies," said Emily Laidlaw, Canada research chair in cybersecurity law at the University of Calgary.

The Online Harms Act, which died on the order paper when the election was called, would have required social media companies to outline how they plan to reduce the risks their platforms pose to users, and would have imposed on them a duty to protect children.

The RCMP and TikTok

A trend on TikTok has Canadians “challenging” RCMP officers to fake foot pursuits.

Margaret Atwood takes aim at Alberta’s school library books ban with satirical story

EDMONTON - Margaret Atwood is taking aim at Alberta's controversial ban on school library books containing sexual content with a new, satirical short story after the famed author's novel "The Handmaid's Tale" was yanked from some shelves due to the province's sweeping new rules.

In a social media post on Sunday, Atwood said since the literary classic is no longer suitable in Alberta's schools, she has written a short story for 17-year-olds about two "very, very good children" named John and Mary.

"They never picked their noses or had bowel movements or zits," she said at the beginning of her story.

"They grew up and married each other, and produced five perfect children without ever having sex."

Hotel-weary evacuees guests at powwow

SIOUX VALLEY DAKOTA NATION — Evacuees displaced from their communities in northern Manitoba were invited to Sioux Valley Dakota Nation on Friday for what the chief called a mental health day.

A hundred people were at the afternoon event when the Brandon Sun visited.

The event, which included live music, games and children’s entertainment, was a way to give a day of fresh air to evacuees, Chief Vince Tacan said.

“We thought we’d give our relatives from the north a mental health day, because staying in hotels gets hard after a while,” Tacan said.

Manitoba LGBT* chamber starts entrepreneur development program

A new program aims to support LGBTTQ+ entrepreneurs in Manitoba.

The Manitoba LGBT* Chamber of Commerce is accepting applications for Emerge, the queer entrepreneur development program it’s launching next month. The six-month program is designed for members of the LGBTTQ+ community to gain essential business skills and strategies, and to build a supportive network of mentors and colleagues in the process.

The program is the first of its kind for the chamber, said Jenny Steinke-Magnus, executive director. “There’s really some unique challenges that queer entrepreneurs face, so we wanted to address those challenges and offer this tailor-made program for queer entrepreneurs in Manitoba.”

Steinke-Magnus cites findings from Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce (CGLCC) that shows one in four LGBTTQ+ entrepreneurs have lost business opportunities because of their identity. Two in five have difficulty obtaining financing for their business because of their identity, and one in three have been unable to access mentoring and coaching.

Supervised consumption site expected this year will ‘definitely’ open before NDP’s first term ends, addictions minister says

The province will have a supervised consumption site before the next election, Manitoba’s addictions minister promised Friday after unveiling a memorial stone to those who’ve died of drug overdoses.

Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith told reporters that the government isn’t going to rush the establishment of an overdose prevention site.

“We want to do our due diligence in terms of consulting, making sure that we’re getting it right,” Smith said on the grounds of the Manitoba legislature after an International Overdose Awareness Day rally.

Last month, Smith said the province was “forging ahead” with opening a supervised consumption site in Winnipeg this year. On Friday, she was asked again about an opening date — if it might not be until next year or later in the government’s four-year mandate, which is nearly half over.

Eight docs recruited to work in western Manitoba

Eight doctors from around the world have signed on to work in clinics across the Prairie Mountain Health region through a provincial program.

Six doctors have set up practice in Swan River, Neepawa, Roblin and Virden, while two physicians are scheduled to begin in Souris and Swan River in mid-September. All were recruited by the Medical Licensure Program for International Medical Graduates, which helps physicians gain Canadian citizenship or permanent residency in exchange for working in communities in desperate need of doctors.

The physicians are from Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, the Philippines and Bangladesh. In exchange for assisting foreign-trained doctors to become fully licensed to practise in Manitoba, they’ve agreed to practise in those communities for at least four years.

While the program has been used since 2001 to recruit doctors to the underserved Westman area , the local health authority has ramped up efforts in the past two years to improve the chance that internationally trained doctors establish roots in rural Manitoba. The hope is that they’ll stay more than four years.

Second summer of motorized boat ban, uncertainty going forward raise longer-term concerns for tourism-driven economy inside Riding Mountain National Park

WASAGAMING — As the sun shimmers over Clear Lake’s still waters, everything appears smooth. But there is an undercurrent of uncertainty running through Manitoba’s most popular national park.

Riding Mountain, and other national parks across Canada, are increasingly facing difficult environmental challenges.

For Riding Mountain, it’s the invasive zebra mussel species. In Alberta’s Jasper National Park, it was 2024’s devastating wildfire that caused more than $1 billion in damages. In Nova Scotia, tinder-dry conditions this summer led to the controversial decision to close back-country access in two national parks — Cape Breton Highlands and Kejimkujik.

This is the new reality for places such as Wasagaming, Riding Mountain’s picturesque townsite that borders on Clear Lake — where bureaucratic decisions to address environmental threats run counter to the desires of residents and tourists who want to enjoy popular summer destinations to the fullest.

Amid geopolitical uncertainty, Manitoba poised to become a hub for increased efforts to assert Canada’s Arctic sovereignty

Political ground is shifting, ice is melting and Winnipeg and Manitoba appear poised to play a role worth considering in this uncertain new era of Arctic politics.